


my taste in music is your face

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bands, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, Explicit Language, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining Levi, Texting, as expected of Levi really, professor Levi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-11 04:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4421537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So Levi winds up telling an almost-stranger about his bad day after a particularly bad night, involving a wild goose chase across downtown Shiganshina and his drunk sister. Turns out he plays in a pop punk band and his voice isn't half-bad. Everything kind of just falls into place after that.</p><p>An AU in which Levi is the lonesome history professor and Eren is the singer of a pop punk band slowly working their way up the local charts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sometimes You've Got to Bleed to Know

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the all new and improved version of a fic I took down a few days ago. It's also my first fic here, so any comments and kudos would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> All the chapter titles will be taken from songs (esp pop punk ones, because that's the kind of band Eren plays in)
> 
> Song: Tear In My Heart by Twenty One Pilots

As cliche as it sounds, it all starts over a cup of tea.

“Ah, fuck.”

The sudden force catches Levi off-guard and he hisses out in pain as the hot tea sloshes out from his cup, soaking through his shirt and dousing his skin with heat. Fortunately, the tea’s not hot enough to actually scald him, but he’s startled all the same. Looking down, he notices a stain the size of his fist spreading across the front of his once-pristine dress shirt.

The reason for his spilt cup of tea stands before him as a twenty-something year old male, rubbing at his arm sheepishly. His eyes go wide as he takes in Levi and the shirt he’s wearing, freshly stained with tea.

Levi lets out a sigh. It’s the work of the gods, he reasons inwardly with himself. Perhaps they’re trying to test his limits—to see how far he goes before he finally caves in.

He’s pretty sure he’s had the worst day ever. For starters, he only just realised this morning while preparing for work that he left his scarf in the backseat of Hanji’s car, otherwise known as No Man’s Land. Seriously. The mad scientist keeps all sorts of weird organisms and flammable chemicals—which is probably illegal—in the backseat of her car, for her various experiments. Normally he would have asked her to burn it for him, but it’s his favourite scarf—warm and black and snug, that drapes around his neck perfectly, keeping him toasty through the biting Shiganshina winters.

Following that, he slipped on some black ice in the university parking lot in the morning, bruising his tailbone. It wasn’t broken or anything serious like that, but it hurt like bloody hell for the rest of the day. He can barely sit down in his chair without wincing.

Now some moron who apparently _can’t see where they’re fucking going_ just collides into him, spilling his five dollars’ worth of premium black tea on his _second-best dress shirt_. Great. This day just gets better and better.

“I’m sorr—” the stranger starts to say, but Levi cuts in, snapping, “Do you not have eyes? Can’t you see where you’re going?”

He storms past the stranger to his seat, hardly caring that his little outburst has drawn the eyes of the fifteen or so students trying to escape the cold to him. The cup is empty now. It’s blisteringly cold outside, and Levi would have given anything for a warm cup of tea, that is, until he spilled it. He should probably buy another cup, but he’s really not in the mood to do so. Of all shirts, why would he have chosen to wear that particular one today? That was his second best dress-shirt.

There’s a rustle besides him as the same guy who bumped into him a few moments ago appears, holding out a napkin. “Um, here,” he offers. “I’m really sorry about earlier. If you want, I could buy you another cup of tea—”

“Just forget about it. Sorry for blowing up earlier,” Levi says curtly, now that he’s mostly calmed down. He’s not really one to be polite, so he grabs the napkins and dabs at his stain. Not that it really makes a difference, anyways.

“No, really. I’d like to buy you another drink, I’ve got an employee discount—er, something like that, anyways,” the man stammers, fumbling for his wallet. Levi is sceptical, but he gets to his feet. He checks his watch: five thirty seven. Nearly ten minutes since Hanji asked him to wait for her at the coffee shop near her lab. Knowing her, he might have to wait for at least half an hour. Outside the window, the roads are swathed with thin sheets of snow. A free cup of tea wouldn’t hurt, he thinks, and follows the man to the counter.

The counter is completely clear of queues, much to Levi’s surprise. He follows the man, who marches up right to the Asian cashier behind the counter. Her face darkens as soon as she spots them approaching.

“No employee discount,” she tells the man, and his face falls. He turns to Levi anyways to ask him what he would like. Levi answers with his usual order of black tea, tall. No sugar. He prefers it when his tea is strong, with a hint of bitter.

“One black tea, coming right up,” the cashier says. She turns back to the man with a dark look. “That’ll be five dollars.”

As soon as Levi has turned his back, he hears the cashier say, “You’ve really got to stop loitering around here all the time, Eren. Hannes has been talking about permanently banning you.”

The man—Eren snorts and says, “Come on, Hannes always says that but he won’t actually do it. I actually buy stuff sometimes—probably one of your highest-paying customers.”

Suddenly, a cold blast rushes into the room, along with a very dishevelled-looking Hanji, her glasses fogged with condensation. The door swings shut behind her as she walks towards Levi, panting.

“And where the hell have you been, shitty glasses?” Levi barks, out of exasperation. He can’t stay mad at her—he knows her too well to know that she was probably preoccupied with whatever new experiment she’s working on at the moment. Especially since she looks downright ridiculous: her hair is tousled and coming loose from her ponytail, and her jacket is carelessly shrugged on over a lab coat.

Hanji smiles wanly. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out Levi’s scarf. “Here you go. Sorry, I got caught up at the lab—some last-minute thing.”

He’s about to reply when Eren perks up from where he’s resting his elbows on the counter, talking to the cashier. “Hey, Hanji!” he says cheerfully.

“Hey, Eren! How’s it going?” she replies, just as jovial.

“It’s okay, I—Oh! That reminds me—are you still coming to the gig tonight? We’re one of the last sets, if you don’t mind hanging around,” he says.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there!” Hanji says brightly. Eren flashes her a smile.

“What gig?” Levi asks, thoroughly bewildered. He knows for a fact that Hanji typically spends her Friday evenings watching old reruns of Dexter. Why she would be spending this Friday night at some music gig baffles him.

“Oh, um—Eren’s in a band and he’s performing a gig tonight. I’d forgotten to ask you along but I figured you probably wouldn’t like it anyways. It’s pop punk—not really your style, and it’s at some crowded pub downtown. No offence,” Hanji says, shooting Eren an apologetic look. He waves back good-naturedly.

“It doesn’t matter anyways,” Levi replies. “Izzy texted to tell me she’d be coming back for the weekend. We’ll probably go out to dinner—or stay in, or something.”

“Oh, is she? Tell her I say hi!”

“A tall black tea,” the barista yells, pushing a cup of tea across the counter to Levi. He grabs it, lifting the cup to his lips. A sigh of pleasure escapes his lips as the warm tea seeps between his lips, down his throat and into his belly, where there’s a pleasantly warm sensation growing.

“Hey Hanji—” Levi starts, only to realize that she isn’t there. “Where’s Hanji?” he asks Eren, who is leaning against the counter, checking his phone.

“Um, she went to the bathroom, I think. Oh, you’ve gotten your drink,” he says, pointing at the cup in Levi’s hand. “My sister says no one really orders the teas here. It’s an uncommon order, I guess. Students seem to like the frappes better.”

“Your sister?”

“Oh, right. She’s the cashier.”

Levi looks at the cashier—who’s now serving a long queue of students coming in for their coffee fix. She looks nothing like Eren. Where Eren is all tan and long and lazy, with messy brown hair falling over his eyes, his sister looks half-Asian (Japanese, maybe?), with slanting eyes and a dark, neat bob of hair. There’s a red scarf wrapped around her neck, in contrast with her pale complexion, even though it’s indoors where they’re well out of the cold.

“Yeah, we’re not really related by blood,” Eren says, reading Levi’s mind. “It’s a little difficult to explain.”

Levi can only nod in response.

“I realised—I don’t even know your name,” Eren continues, turning to stare at Levi.

Levi realises just how green the colour of Eren’s eyes are, now that he’s looking at them. They’re sort of luminous, like the eyes of a cat.

“Levi Ackerman. Just Levi’s fine,” Levi says. He clears his throat awkwardly, looking away.

“Oh,” is all Eren says. Then, “Do you like frappes? I know it’s in the middle of winter and all, but this place has a really great caramel frappe. You should try it sometime.”

“I don’t like frappes,” Levi answers, because honestly, they’re one of the most disgusting creations ever concocted. They’re basically overpriced mixtures of dehydrated espresso, powdered skim milk and a truckload of high fructose corn syrup—blended with ice. “They’re not even real drinks, technically—just a whole lot of diabetes.”

“Um, okay,” Eren says, quirking an eyebrow at Levi as he swipes at his phone screen. “Unfortunately for you, I’m a fan of those diabetes. And they’re really good.”

Levi barely represses a shudder of disgust. Eren notices the slight revulsion on his face and chuckles in response.

“What,” Levi barks.

“Nothing. It’s just that,” Eren says, “I’ve never met anyone quite like you. You’re so short and grumpy and kinda rude.”

Levi isn’t sure what to make of that statement. He feels a slight smile threatening to tug at his lips, even though the comment seems quite insulting.

“Eren! It’s nearly six!” Eren’s sister yells from the counter. He jumps to his feet and blinks in surprise.

“Okay, shit. I gotta be somewhere else. Well, guess I better run. I’ll see you around sometime, I guess, since you’re Hanji’s friend and all. See you, Levi! Oh, bye, Hanji!” he shouts, waving across the coffee shop at Hanji, who has emerged from the washroom.

Levi watches as Eren slips out of the coffee shop, pushing his hands into his pockets as the glass doors swing shut behind him. His footprints leave shallow indents in the snow.

“How do you know Eren?” Hanji asks, her eyes locked on Levi, smiling rather smugly. “You don’t usually make polite conversation—if any, with people." He stares at her with a sort of vague annoyance, wanting to wipe that shit-eating grin off her face.

“His clumsy self just happened to bump into and spill my drink all over me, so he offered to buy me a drink. How do you know Eren?” he replies smoothly, tipping the last of his tea down his throat.

“Friend of one of my teaching assistants. Also I come to this coffee shop a lot, and his sister works there, so,” she says, shrugging. “So are you leaving?”

“Yup,” Levi says, tossing the cup into the bin. They open the glass doors into the crisp winter air. Levi is glad to be able to wrap his favourite scarf around his neck again. The parking lot is literally a short distance away from the coffee shop, where Levi’s Camry is parked under a tree.

“Bye, Levi!”

He turns back and scowls at Hanji. Shitty glasses is waving at him, her smile so wide it might actually split her face. Rolling his eyes, he gets into his car and starts the ignition.

As he drives past the university bus stop, he spots Eren there. His phone is pressed to his ear and he is screaming, cheeks turning red with anger and misty breath escaping into the cold evening air. Amused by the sight, Levi drives on. For a split second, he remembers the gig that Hanji was going to tonight, but he figures it’s too late to ask her anyways. He’ll probably just bring Izzy to the Italian restaurant they frequent on Friday nights and spend the rest of his night dealing with the towering stack of final papers on his desk. No big deal.

There’s a warm sensation in his stomach, but he’s certain that it’s not from the black tea he had earlier.

➢

The moment Levi steps onto the front porch, he spots the extra pair of shoes that are not his own lying on the welcome mat. Rolling his eyes, he removes his shoes and picks up the pair of navy-blue Converse, depositing them neatly on the shelf besides each other.

Levi opens the door.

There’s a blur of red, and then a heavy mass is atop him, knocking him to the ground breathlessly. Gasping for air, he pushes it off him and is greeted by the sight of twin ponytails and a wide grin across the face of his little sister, Isabel.

“Guess who’s back from college!” she says, finally pushing herself off Levi.

It’s been nearly a month and a half since he last saw Izzy during her winter break, and she looks the same as ever, her untidy red hair tied in pigtails, wearing one of Levi’s old shirts that are too small for him but just right for her, over a pair of slouchy Lumpy Space Princess pyjama pants.

“Hey, Iz,” Levi says, the corners of his mouth lifting into a slight smile. “Welcome back. Did you get dinner already? Need any help unpacking?”

She waves him away carelessly, rolling her eyes at him. “Yeah, yeah. I arrived at three, so I did all that way earlier.”

“Great,” Levi says, shrugging off his coat. “Everything in school okay?”

“Uh-huh,” she replies, bouncing on the balls of her feet. There’s a chime from her pocket and she pulls it out excitedly, her fingers moving over the keypad in a frenzy.

“Friends of yours?” Levi asks, standing on tiptoe to reach the coat peg. He doesn’t have a choice, since Izzy’s taken up the two shorter coat pegs. She just nods distractedly.

“Where do you want to go for dinner?” he asks, twirling his keys around his finger, heading for the stairs. “We could go to the new Korean restaurant downstairs, or the pizza place. Or we could have a night in, and watch a movie—Kingsmen sounds good—”

“Actually, Levi,” Isabel says, a hint of guilt in her voice. He turns back to look at her. “My roommate—she’s also from Shiganshina—we kind of made plans for a girls’ night. I mean we could always go out tomorrow, since I’m back for the whole weekend anyways—”

“That’s okay,” Levi says, trying to mask the slight pang of disappointment. He guesses it’s just going to be pizza tonight for him, then. “Where are you guys going?”

“Clubbing, probably. You don’t have to pick me up at the end of the night, I’m probably going to be staying over at Mina’s,” Isabel says, following him up the stairs.

“Great.”

He walks into his room. Switching on the light, he is about to close the door when Izzy points at the stain on his shirt. “What’s up with that?”

“Minor work accident. Tea spill,” he says, shoving her out of his room. She lets out an indignant yelp as he shuts the door in her face.

Levi undresses and changes into more comfortable clothes. He puts on his glasses and settles at his desk, red pen in hand. Rolling up his sleeves, he picks up the first paper and starts marking.

At half-past seven, Isabel knocks on his door just as he ends a call with the pizza place for an order for a small pepperoni. She’s wearing a skintight sequinned dress and combat boots—typical clubbing wear for young people nowadays, he supposes. He hasn’t been in the clubbing scene for a long time.

“You’re dressed to kill,” he remarks, sipping tea. “Have fun. Don’t do dumb things, like not using protection or drugs. Have your phone on you at all times, seriously—”

“Oh my god. I’m twenty-one, Levi. I’ve gone clubbing quite a lot back at school, I can take care of myself. You, on the other hand—you’d better not stay up too late working, either!” she chides playfully, turning back down the stairs. He hears her footsteps, then the door clicking shut behind her.

Then he’s all alone, and the house is cold and silent.

Levi sighs and gets back to his work. The only sounds he can hear are his breathing and the scratching of pen against paper. He is reminded once again that Isabel goes back to school on Sunday, and it’ll just be him and lonely weeknights with his work or the TV for company.

Not that Levi minds the silence. He’s never been very good with people, and has very few friends—one of them is Hanji. They used to have a roommate, Farlan but he left in the fall for Vancouver, where he’s currently working as some sort of engineer, maybe? Levi can’t really remember.

There’s also his colleagues in the history department—Petra, Erd, Gunther and maybe even Auruo. They go out for drinks occasionally, but nothing really more than that. There’s also Mike, and Nanaba, both of whom were introduced to him by Erwin.

Erwin. Of course. They started out dating in the early days of college, where Levi was somewhat of a naive freshman—freshly out of the closet and Erwin was perhaps the first openly gay guy he’d encountered since leaving high school. He supposes they had a good run, but realised that they weren’t cut out for each other romantically, and remained friends. Then Hanji came along, and they formed a bizarre crowd—Hanji, the mad scientist, Erwin, the golden boy and Levi, who’s just, well—Levi, all angles and moody stares. It’s been years since they’ve graduated but they’ve stuck together ever since, working in the same university.

He hasn’t had any serious partners since his last relationship two years ago, and well—he wonders what it would be like to have someone—to love someone, for a change. He remembers dating Erwin in his college years, and attempts to imagine what it would feel like to have a lover again, to have someone to wake up to every Monday morning, carding your fingers through their hair—

Wait—what? Why is he even thinking about romantic shit like that? Levi isn’t a hopeless romantic. The last few times he was with someone, they were mostly one-night stands, no-strings attached relationships. Sometimes they evolve into more serious things, but he’s never really…had crushes on anyone.

For a second, his mind flickers to the boy he met earlier—the boy with the sea-green eyes—

_That_ surprises him, coming out of the blue like that, and he stills his pen, blinking at the sudden thoughts.

Before he has time to ponder this, there’s a ring at the door, signalling the arrival of the pizza. Groaning, Levi winces as he gets up from his chair—the bruise on his tailbone still hurts like hell—and grabs his wallet, going down to get the pizza.

He tips the deliveryman a little extra than he usually does. Then, grabbing the box, he settles into the familiar indent in his couch, slouching into the seat as he turns on the television. It’s set to some trashy talk show—probably Isabel’s work, he guesses, but he mindlessly watches it anyways, finding it more amusing than he should. When that episode’s over, he switches channels until he finds one showing a Big Bang Theory marathon.

He finishes his pizza, but is reluctant to get up. He stays there for over an hour, with eyes half-lidded and the comforting feeling of a full stomach, before lethargy overcomes him and he falls asleep, snoring gently on the couch.

It is well past eleven when his phone vibrates in his lap, startling him awake. The Big Bang Theory marathon has long since ended, and the television is playing some other late night skit show. He rubs at his eyes blearily, getting out his phone. He stares at the screen confusedly, reading the text displayed on his screen with bewilderment.

**Izzy:**  
_at sina. code red. u need to come now can’t talk_

He tries calling Isabel back, but every time he reaches the dial tone. Her phone’s probably turned off, or dead, he guesses. But why would she text him in the middle of the night—unless it’s an emergency?

Levi doesn’t waste any time. He grabs his coat and dashes out the door.


	2. It Was A Fast Night, We Can Take It Slow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> can't really think of anything to describe this chapter, really, it's all just chaos. Involves a slightly tipsy Levi and very cheesy thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter chapter this time!
> 
> Song: Don't You Go by All Time Low

By the time he reaches downtown, he’s called Isabel about fifteen times, and has been greeted every single damn time with the same annoying beep-beep of the dial tone. When she doesn’t pick up her phone for what seems to be the twentieth time, he grits his teeth and gets out of his car, slamming the door in annoyance.

The streets in their neighbourhood are mostly silent at this time of the night, save for the occasional car whizzing past. Downtown, however, is an entirely different story. In the wee hours of Saturday, there are people everywhere, loudly stumbling down the pavement with beers in their hands, arms wrapped around each other in passionate embraces—Levi grimaces at the sight of a few particularly obscene couples—and groups of college-age girls, all giggly and tipsy as they totter down the streets in threes and fours. Levi thinks that he must be the most sober person on the street at this hour.

He takes his phone out and stares blankly at the text on his screen, reading through it again. Sina must be a bar or something, he reasons. Turning on his heel, he stops to stare at the street he’s on, lined with pubs and bars. After all, this is the centre of nightlife in Shiganshina. Levi’s only been here to drink with friends a few times, but only at the quieter, hole-in-the-wall establishments where there are hardly any large crowds. He’s never come across any establishment with the name of Sina.

There’s a sour feeling in his mouth as he trudges down the street mindlessly, pausing every now and then to glance at the signs on the club. It would have been wiser to ask one of the pedestrians, but they’d probably be too intoxicated to answer him.

_Where the fuck is Sina?_

It hits him all of a sudden. _Hanji_. God, how could he be such a fucking idiot? She’d told him she was going out to a gig downtown. Maybe she knows where Sina is. He scrabbles to unlock his phone, hands shivering in the chilly night as he dials her number, pressing his phone to his ear.

After four and a half rings, Hanji finally picks up.

She’s definitely in a club, he thinks as she answers the phone breathlessly. Everyone is screaming and there’s some kind of rock music playing behind her. He can barely make out the words she’s saying through the din.

“Levi! Did you finally decide to get your ass out of the house and actually have fun for once—”

“Do you know a place called Sina?”

“WHAT?”

“I said—” Levi’s patience is reaching an end. “Where the fuck is Sina?”

“SINA? Oh—” The music is fading into the distance. He hears the sound of footsteps clattering against the floor. Hanji’s voice comes through the phone again, clearer and less distant this time. “Wow—how’d you know? I’m actually at Sina with Petra and the girls now—”

“Oh. Good. Great.” He lets out his breath, something he hadn’t even realised he had been holding until now. “Isabel just told me that she’s at Sina and it’s an emergency, whatever that means—”

“An emergency?” Hanji says. “I’m at the club, but I don’t see her anywhere on the second floor—”

“Wait.” Levi stops in his tracks. There’s a building up ahead, kind of dingy looking but the neon sign hanging above its doorway reads SINA in capital letters. “I think I found the club.”

He hangs up on her, quickening his pace as he walks towards the club. There’s a bouncer at the front of the club. As Levi approaches, he stares him down and asks for an ID.

“I don’t have one right now,” Levi says. He half-expects the bouncer to let him in—after all, he doesn’t even look that young. He’s fast approaching thirty, with a few strands of silvery hair to show for it.

“Sir, I need to see an ID. That’s the rules.”

Levi stares at him disbelievingly. “Do I seriously look underage to you? I’m almost thirty, for fuck’s sake.”

“I can’t let you in if you don’t flash me an ID.”

The bouncer crosses his arms and stares down at Levi. Which isn’t actually hard to do, considering that Levi stands at the mere height of five foot three. Levi clenches his jaw and steps forward, when someone puts a hand on his shoulder.

He turns around to see a familiar person standing behind him. Tall, tan, sea-green eyes. Eren, his brain registers.

Eren jerks a thumb towards a van parked next to the nightclub. “Sorry, but he’s with us—we’re the band performing tonight.”

The bouncer just shrugs and looks away.

As Eren half-drags Levi down a back alley, the shorter man hisses, “What an asshole.”

Eren frowns and looks at Levi. “He’s just doing his job, you know.”

Before Levi can respond, Eren runs up ahead, where there’s a black, windowless door set in the brick wall of the club, already half-ajar. Some guy with a guitar around his neck is holding the door open for them. Eren smiles at him as they pass through. “Thanks, Marco.”

The club is loud as fuck, and Levi can feel the thumping of the bass reverberate through him. Not exactly a pleasant feeling. It’s rather dark where they are, and he can see a large crowd in front of the stage, where they’re gyrating to some rock band performing. Levi winces at the loudness as they near the stage. He tries not to think about the amount of sweat and germs in the air, and instead wonders where Isabel might be in this sea of people.

“Why were you trying to get into a club without any ID?” comes an inquisitive voice behind him, Levi looks up to find Eren staring at him curiously. 

He half-scowls at him. “I’m trying to find my sister,” he says. He takes out the phone to check the text—it’s been about fifty something minutes or so since she last contacted him. Shit. She could be anywhere, passed out on the floor, collapsed in some filthy cubicle—

A wave of nausea passes through Levi at the thought. He feels the walls of the club pressing in. The music seems more deafening than before. The room is spinning—is it just his imagination, or did the floor move beneath him? Shit, at this rate he might actually pass out.

There’s a reason why he stopped clubbing and never went back again.

“—hey, Levi, you okay?”

There’s a gentle pat on his shoulder. He turns around to look at Eren, who’s staring at him with a mixture of confusion and concern. He waves Eren away. “I’m just going to look for my sister.”

Being in a club is dredging up all the repressed memories in the back of his mind that he would rather not recall. _It’s just a fucking club_ , he tells himself. _It’s really no big deal_ —

A familiar flash of red hair in his peripheral vision catches his attention. Isabel. He spots her through the crowd and shoves his way through the masses. “Isabel!”

Isabel turns in shock, just as he’s making his way to her. Her face is flushed with alcohol and sweat and she totters unsteadily towards him on her heels—she’s fine, absolutely fine. Not collapsed or passed out or being taken advantage of or anything that Levi had feared—he wants to pass out in relief. 

“Wha—what are you doing here?” Her face is furrowed as he approaches her.

“You asked me to come, didn’t you?” Levi says. He suddenly feels very tired. It seems he’s been on some fucking wild goose chase across the town when Isabel is absolutely fine. “You even said it was a code red.” He takes his phone out of his pocket to show her the text.

“I didn’t text you—” she begins, but as she reads the text, realisation dawns on her face. Her mouth morphs into a silent ‘o’. “Shit,” she says, swallowing. “Um—wrong L?”

“Wrong L?”

“I mean—“ she hesitates. “I meant to send this to someone else—”

“Wrong L?” Levi is fucking pissed. “Are you fucking kidding me—you’re telling me that this text was completely by accident—I could have been sleeping—”

“Look, I’m sorry—”

“You weren’t in any trouble, were you?” Levi asks, trying to keep his anger in check.

“No, I’m alright—”

“Then why did you say it was a code red?” Levi’s fuming now. “Code red means it’s an emergency—”

“It was for a friend!” Isabel yells. “I’m really sorry for waking you up because of a dumb text—I wanted my friend to come quick because—”

“You know what? Forget this shit.” Levi runs a hand through his hair. “You should probably stay over at your friend’s for the night. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow morning—or afternoon. Then we’ll talk about this shit.”

Isabel just nods at him, her mouth pulled into a thin, tight line. Levi just turns on his heel and walks away. He reaches into his pocket for his phone, typing a hasty text to Hanji.

_**me:**  
Found her. She’s alright._

_**Shitty Glasses:**  
you still in the club?_

_**me:**  
I need a drink. Going to bar_

_**Shitty Glasses:**  
right—i’ll be coming down after i get out of this…sticky situation_

Levi snorts at Hanji’s text. He feels someone at his elbow—and turns around for the millionth time today to find Eren behind him. “Fucking hell,” Levi mutters in disbelief, rubbing at his neck. “You’re still here—you just saw all that shit go down with my sister?”

Eren nods indifferently.

“I need a drink,” Levi announces, heading towards the bar. As expected, Eren follows behind him, sliding in next to him at the counter. “A whiskey on the rocks,” Levi says. He looks over at Eren. “Make it two.”

He turns to Eren, snapping, “Why were you following me—”

“I just thought you needed some help, honestly,” Eren says, unabashed. “Your sister could have been in any unimaginable situation—and um, you look like the sort of guy that could handle it, but I’ve performed in this club a few times and I know the crowd here.”

Levi just stares at Eren. Their drinks arrive and he picks up his glass, lifting it slightly, but not to his lips. “What did you say the name of your band was?”

Eren glances at him. “Um—Dear Maria. It’s kind of a small band; we’re kind of virtually unknown except here in Shiganshina.” 

“Huh.” Levi takes his drink and gulps it all down. It’s Eren’s turn to stare at him. “Looks like someone’s been having a shit day.”

“Tell me about it,” Levi says. “You spilling tea on me wasn’t even the worst thing that happened today.”

“You could tell me about your bad day, if you don’t mind. You kind of seem upset.”

“Don’t you have to like—go to help your band set up or something?”

Eren waves him away. “Nah, we’re still early. Just go on.”

So Levi does.

He doesn’t know why he’s talking about his bad day to a complete stranger, but it feels good to air out his frustrations. All the anger and annoyance that has been slowly building up inside him since the start of the day just tumbles out from his mouth. It’s really just superficial venting, but he feels much better about it since Eren is a good listener, unlike Hanji, who’d have cut in every few minutes if he had tried to tell her. (Not that he would have, of course.) Eren just nods and orders them more drinks, which is extremely convenient to Levi and helping Eren’s case.

As soon as the next band comes up on stage, Eren stops Levi in the middle of his spiel. “I gotta go,” he says apologetically. “Setting up and all. You should stay awhile, to see us perform.”

“I won’t make any promises,” Levi says, but he’s pleasantly buzzed and actually kind of curious to know what Eren does. But only for a short while. He really does have to get back to his bed.

Eren gets up to leave, but for some unknown reason, he pauses and turns around. “I—” he begins, then closing his mouth. He opens his mouth again. “It was…odd talking to you—” _but also kind of weirdly cool_ , he looks like he wants to say, “—so see you again, soon, I guess.”

Eren really looks like he wants to say something else. Levi may be inexperienced and socially inept, but even he knows what Eren really wants. When he doesn’t say anything else, Levi rolls his eyes and gets to his feet. “You should have just told me that you wanted my number, you know.”

It’s really too dark to see properly, but Eren turns away and stares at his feet—is he blushing? Snorting, Levi just hands Eren his phone and tells him to key his number in.

He supposes he should say something, like _I enjoyed your company too_ , but it sounds strange on the tip of his tongue, so he keeps his words in. 

“You’ll text me?” Eren asks, handing back Levi’s phone with a last smile. Nodding, Levi watches as he turns away and vanishes back into the crowd.

Levi looks down at his phone, where the name of the newly-created contact—EREN JAEGER—flashes out at him. He creates a new text and pauses, staring at the empty box where you’re supposed to type your message. Hesitantly, he starts to type, pressing send before he can have any second thoughts.

The new conversation on his phone screen now reads:

_**me:**  
Hi._

_**me:**  
It’s Levi. _

He feels the heat rush to his face after he’s sent the texts—a kind of nervous energy bubbling up through him. Must have been all the alcohol he took. Hanji’ll have to drive him home in this state. He shuts his phone off before he can think about anything else, resting his cheek against the cool wood of the counter.

This is really not how Levi expected his night to turn out.

➢

Hanji appears around his third glass of whiskey and in the middle of Dear Maria’s act. She smirks at Levi, who’s cradling his drink with one hand, watching the band play on the stage, and slides smoothly into the seat previously occupied by Eren

“Where have you been?” he barks, as the ends their rendition of Even As She Falls on stage.

“Petra wouldn’t stop puking in the bathroom. Nanaba and I had to physically drag her out of the club and into a cab.” She points at a stain on her sleeve, which is roughly the color of puke. Levi gags and stumbles backwards, away from her. “That’s fucking disgusting.”

Hanji just laughs at him and orders a drink for herself.

Eren’s band is not bad at all. Actually, they’re quite good.

Eren has a good voice, rather rough around the edges, but there’s a lot of intensity behind it. The band started off by doing covers of songs, but they eventually move on to performing original songs.

Also, Eren was totally lying when he said that they were “virtually unknown”, or whatever. It seems as though most of the crowd is here for their act.

“Okay, so this next song was inspired by a crush I had on someone while I was in high school.” Eren laughs into the mic, and Levi feels a sort of shiver running down his spine at the sound. “I’m not going to say who he is—but he was my best friend, still is, actually, and this was before I realised that I liked both guys and girls too.”

Levi looks at Hanji, surprised. “Eren’s bi?”

She just shrugs and smiles.

“Anyways, so. This was a song I wrote around that defining period of my life in high school—and I hope it resonates with you. If you’re ever confused or worried about who you are or who you like, it’ll all work out in the end, I promise. Without any further ado, here’s the song.”

He listens intently as the band launches into the song—it’s a softer song, but Levi can still feel the confusion and teenage angst bubbling up behind it. His eyes glaze over as he watches Eren—the thin white shirt and denim jeans he’s clad in are clinging to his sweaty skin. There is so much emotion pouring out of Eren’s mouth that the lyrics feel real to Levi, as if he’s actually lived this song. 

In the morning when he tries to remember the previous night, this song sticks out to him the most—maybe because he realises that he has indeed lived this song. Perhaps not exactly the same, but similar enough that Levi is filled with a strange bitterness at what they’ve both had to go through. Levi knows what it feels like to be gay, and to want to scream at people who think gay is bad, gay is wrong, and Levi wants to tell everyone that he’s not a monster and he’s not going to eat them alive because really, the only one who’s being eaten is himself. Eren knows all of this and more, and tells it with a reckless abandon that Levi wants to get swept up in. Maybe Eren and him aren’t so different.

He falls asleep in the car as Hanji drives him home, his head lolling against the window and echoing with the lyrics of the song as he drifts off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! (ू•ᴗ•ू❁)


	3. I Hope We Meet Again, I Hope It Won't Be Long

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi decides to stalk Eren on his YouTube channel. It's not such a good idea, as he finds out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> largely unedited at the last part! updates might be a bit slow, since I'm going through a hectic phase in school! (took me more than two weeks just to write this chapter) but anyways, hope you'll like it :-)
> 
> Song: Berlin by New Politics

Levi barely remembers his interaction with Eren at the club when he wakes up the next morning, his skull throbbing painfully.

Wincing at the bright sunlight pouring in through his windows, he growls and wrenches the curtains shut, closing his eyes and huddling back under the covers. The throbbing in his head doesn’t make it particularly easy for him to go back to sleep, so after a few agonising minutes he throws back the covers angrily and creaks to his feet, hobbling out of his room.

Levi hasn’t had a hangover for a long time, really. When he goes out for drinks, he limits himself to a few beers but never shots or anything like that. He’s usually the designated driver in his drinking groups. 

It takes him a while to find the Advil stashed behind the first-aid kit in his medicine cabinet. He walks downstairs to the kitchen, Advil in hand, feeling like a bag of bones. Luckily, it’s a Saturday, well past eleven am, and he doesn’t have to go to work and suffer through the day. He’ll probably just spend Saturday doing what he was supposed to be doing the previous day, before he was sent on some idiotic wild goose chase by his sister—

There’s an immense jolt of pain to his head. Levi winces and gulps down water, popping the Advil and swallowing everything. His phone buzzes on the table next to him. It’s probably Isabel, asking to be picked up from her friend’s house. Levi groans. He’s still pissed off at her about yesterday

He checks his phone reluctantly. _EREN JAEGER_ , reads the name on the screen. Beneath it is a text from him. It’s just a smiley emoticon.

Oh, right. He’d almost forgotten that Eren had given him his number last night.

Levi feels a rare smile pulling at the corner of his lips. As he’s about to answer it, his phone buzzes in his hand again, only to display another text from Eren.

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_damn last night was crazy haha_

His phone buzzes again.

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_so how did u find our performance last night :)_

Levi texts him in response.

**_me:_ **

_Not bad at all, actually. I really liked that song about you finding out that you were bi._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_thx its one of my favorites too, actually_

_i don’t usually write the songs, usually its jean and marco_

**_me:_ **

_Well, yours was nice._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_levi ackerman right_

_hey my sister says that she’s seen u around school before_

_shes a student at trost btw_

**_me:_ **

_Yeah well, I’m a economics professor. Is your sister the cashier_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_yeah she is. mikasa_

**_me:_ **

_Huh. Maybe I’ve seen her around somewhere._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_its so odd i mean_

_like i go to the campus to hang out with armin and mikasa_

_also we both know hanji_

_but ive never seen u around school before_

_??_

Before Levi can think of what to reply, his phone starts ringing with that all-too familiar default ringtone and a picture of Isabel lights up on his screen. Levi rolls his eyes and swipes across the screen to answer the call.

“Could you come pick me up? I’m at Mina’s house.”

“You sound like shit,” Levi says, but he’s already grabbing his car keys from the table. He winces as he rises from the table. The throbbing in his head is mostly reduced, but his legs still feel rubbery and unsteady to him.

“I’m sorry for last ni—” Izzy begins, her voice scratchy. She’s cut off by a coughing fit and he hears someone in the background sloshing water into a cup.

“We’ll talk in the car. Just text me her address and I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He hangs up, sliding into the driver’s seat. He shuts the door and starts the ignition, before remembering the all too short conversation with Eren before Isabel’s call. Reaching into his back pocket for his phone, he types a quick message to Eren.

**_me:_ **

_Sorry, I need to go._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_alright :)_

_talk later?_

**_me:_ **

_Mm._

He’s not making any promises, he tells himself as he drives off, but he knows that sooner or later, be it in a few hours or days, he’s probably going to find himself typing a message to one _EREN JAEGER_ again.

➢

Isabel looks like shit.

He shakes his head at her through the car window as he pulls up in front of the house Izzy stayed at for the night, a plain-looking suburban house, complete with white picket fencing. She’s clad in a faded white shirt a size too small—probably borrowed, and her hair is sticking up in every which way. She opens the passenger side door without a word, tossing her bag into the backseat and sliding in next to Levi.

They drive down a block in silence. 

Isabel turns her head ever so slightly to look at Levi. The expression on his face is unreadable, and he’s driving with only a hand on the wheel, leaning back in the driver’s seat.

When they stop at the next traffic light, Isabel sniffs loudly, and Levi finally turns towards her.

“I’m sorry,” she tells him. “It was a stupid accident. I was just out getting drunk in some stupid club and—I can totally understand why you’re angry.”

Levi looks at her for a lingering moment. He sighs.

“Teenagers do the stupidest shit sometimes,” he says. He pats her shoulder and presses down on the gas just as the light turns green.

“I am not a teenager.”

“You’re barely twenty-one, Iz.”

She rolls her eyes at him and stares out at the window, watching the gloomy scenery whiz by in a flash of grey. Outside the window, the long winter that has been looming over Shiganshina is finally starting to defrost. She can see it in the trees that are slowly but surely regaining their shade of green, the smell of impending rain in the air, perhaps even in the way her brother twiddles with the volume knob, his eyes softening as the first few chords of a Queen song drift out of the speakers. “I didn’t know you liked this kind of music,” she says.

He shrugs. “Eh, a little different is good,” is all he says.

“You’re in an unusually good mood today.”

“Mm.”

“Shall we order Chinese takeout and watch a movie?”

Isabel hears the smile in his voice as he says, “Kingsmen sounds fun.”

➢

It starts out as an act of boredom, really—or at least that’s what he tries to tell himself. The fact is he’s spent nearly the whole week being reminded constantly of the existence of Eren Jaeger. Each time he passes the coffee shop at the university, where his sister works; or the CD shop a block away from his house, where you can see _Dear Maria_ ’s EP on a shelf next to the counter; or a random bar that he drives past on his way to work, he catches himself thinking about the boy with the green eyes, and how he sung that night.

He’s got nothing else to occupy his mind other than the mindless drone of work—papers and more papers, since Isabel left for school last Sunday.

Eventually, he finds himself succumbing to the temptation after a long day of work. It’s only six thirty, and he’s barely begun marking essays when he hesitates, pen in hand, and pushes away the stack of papers. Getting his laptop out, he goes to YouTube and with a growing sense of anticipation, searches for _Dear Maria_.

Tons of results pop up—there are some videos taken by fans, videos of their performances at various bars and clubs all over the city. The most recent video is dated two days ago, probably taken at their performance in Sina. At the very top is their official channel, so he clicks on that one.

He clicks to ‘show all videos’ and sorts them from ‘oldest to newest’. The very first video at the top reads “FIRST COVER :D (All The Small Things by Blink-182)”. Without hesitating, Levi clicks on the video.

The first thing he notices when the video loads is that the quality is shit—after all, it’s been five years since it was uploaded. A younger version of Eren is adjusting the camera, his face so near that it’s nearly pressed up against the screen—giving the audience a full view of his adolescent, pimply face. This fuzzy, younger version of Eren has longer, shaggier hair that keeps falling in his eyes as he stares at the camera, clearing his throat nervously. He sits down next to one of his bandmates—a freckly, thin guy who’s fiddling with the cables connected to his guitar. At the very back is another of Eren’s bandmates, the horsefaced drummer, looking bored as hell as he twirls his drumsticks.

“Hi,” the younger version of Eren says, smiling up at the camera. “Um, this is our very first cover on here, and we’re gonna do All The Small Things by Blink-182. Hope you guys like it.”

Eren clears his throat again. He looks to his bandmates and nods at them, before turning to the camera just as the guitarist starts playing the first few chords.

Eren takes a deep breath and launches into the song.

Levi is taken aback—this cover is good. He’s not surprised, after all, he’d seen how Eren had performed that night, but this was a cover from five years ago. The next video in their playlist is already loading before he can recover from his astonishment—too late to back out now.

Levi can’t remember how many videos he’s watched until his stomach growls and he pauses the current video—one of their original songs this time. Yawning, he removes his glasses and rubs at his tired eyes blearily, squinting at the computer screen. The numbers at the top right corner read: 7.45 pm.

With a sort of horrified fascination, Levi realises that he’s been watching videos non-stop for a little more than an _hour_. He stares at the paused video onscreen, where Eren’s mouth is wide open in the midst of a song rendition.

He should really be going down to get dinner or something, but his gaze wanders to his phone. He hasn’t texted Eren ever since his hungover morning. For some reason, he guesses now would be a good time to start again.

**_me:_ **

_Hey._

Except he can’t say that he spent a good hour watching his YouTube videos right from the start, so he says:

**_me:_ **

_I might have found your old channel on Youtube._

When he doesn’t get a response after a few minutes, he sighs and shoves his phone back into his pocket, shuffling downstairs. Jeez—why is he even feeling so disappointed? It’s not like he actually expected Eren to text back. Eren’s a musician. He has his own priorities. Levi is sure that does not include the almost-stranger he met at the bar with almost nothing in common except for like, two people.

Except Eren texts back, just as Levi’s digging into the leftover chicken salad from last night. His phone buzzes on the table, where he’s been keeping a careful eye on it—just in case. You never know. He jumps up and grabs his phone to read the text.

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_shit its full of all our embarrassing old stuff :(_

Levi shoves another spoonful of chicken salad into his mouth and types back his response.

**_me:_ **

_I didn’t think you were bad. Your voice is kind of nice._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_thx_

_but its like_

_theyre all so cringey when i listen to them again_

_and i was sort of in an emo phase in high school_

_so glad i cut my hair_

**_me:_ **

_I’m glad you did too._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_shutup :( why were u even stalking us on youtube anyways do u not have anything better to do_

_like idk force more unreasonable deadlines onto college kids_

**_me:_ **

_Is that what Mikasa says_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_maybe_

_so what are u doing now_

**_me:_ **

_Eating dinner, aka stale chicken salad_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_wow sure sounds appetising_

**_me:_ **

_Tell me about it. How about you_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_at home for once, actually_

_ive been to so many shows and practices that im almost always sleeping at someone elses place_

**_me:_ **

_That sucks._

_My sister left for college on Sunday, so it’s just me and work again._

_Or your YouTube account._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_plsplsplsplsplspls DONT_

**_me:_ **

_[image sent]_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_why the fuck would u show me this levi_

_thats such a bad picture_

_how does that even exist i_

**_me:_ **

_Your face just happened to look like that at the time I paused the video._

_There’s still more_

_[image sent]_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_levi i swear to god_

**_me:_ **

_[image sent]_

_[image sent]_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_LEVI._

_hey actually the last one looks kind of hot_

**_me:_ **

_Does it_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_if u take away the acne and the freakishly long hair then yeah i guess_

It’s not like there’s anyone else to see it anyways, but Levi is suddenly all too aware of his lips stretching into a smirk. He checks his phone for the time—fuck, nearly fifteen minutes to nine. He’s been talking to Eren for a good thirty minutes now.

**_me:_ **

_I’ve to go._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_:( bye_

He tries to ignore the vague disappointment that bubbles up within, and heads to the sink instead, scraping the last of his pathetic dinner into the can. He thrusts his arms into dishwater and rubs vigorously at the dishes until they’re literally sparkling.

His computer is still frozen on the image of Eren’s wide-open mouth. Shaking his head slightly, he clicks the ‘-‘ button at the corner of the window to minimise it. Levi pushes his laptop aside, puts on his glasses and starts work on the stack of unmarked papers.

Levi’s usually indifferent to most people. Most people are usually put off by Levi’s attitude: he’s blunt, unapproachable, and perhaps a little too vulgar for their taste. He’s not friendly, he hates being social or anything that would involve him interacting with people—but he’s actually interested in Eren. Sometimes there’s a certain person that catches your eye—well, you don’t like them in _that_ way, you’re merely interested to get to know them better, see if you could be friends or something. Levi figures that Eren must be that somebody for him.

He actually likes Eren. Usually, it takes him a while to begin to take a liking to someone, but there’s something about Eren that’s so genuine and….sincere, like that night in the club when he listened to Levi. Like he actually gave a shit about what Levi wanted to say. Perhaps it’s in the way he performs on stage, exuding a sort of raw honesty in his voice, the way he makes Levi believe every word he sings.

His phone emits a soft buzz and he pauses in the midst of his work, checking the time. He’s been marking papers for about two hours now. He should really go to sleep—it’s well past eleven.

Removing his glasses, Levi rubs at his tired eyes and reclines in his seat, reaching for his phone. He’s beyond exhausted, but his heart leaps as he sees the name _EREN JAEGER_ in loud capital letters on his phone.

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_oh yeah forgot to mention_

_if u ever need me for anything, i hang out at mikasas workplace_

_sometimes_

**_me:_ **

_Sure._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_just in case_

_u never know_

_idk ://_

_night?_

**_me:_ **

_Night. I’m staying up until 2 working._

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_wow that sucks :(_

_don’t stay up any further than that k_

**_me:_ **

_Right._

_Night_

**_EREN JAEGER:_ **

_bb :)_

Then he’s gone, and Levi’s left to stare hopelessly at the still-towering stack of work on the desk, despite the fact that he’d halved it. It’ll take him another two hours to complete his work, and honestly, he’s really not looking forward to another sleepless night fuelled by bitter coffee. At the rate he’s going, he’ll probably end up sleeping at two in the morning.

He grits his teeth and gets to work.

It’s two hours later when Levi finally completes his work. He pushes the stack of paper aside and heaves a deep sigh, putting his pen down. The words on the essay before him are blurring, and his right hand is cramped. He winces, picking up his third—or was it fourth? fifth?—cup of coffee, draining it and setting it down on the table with a grimace. On the table, his clock blinks at him in glowing red numbers: 2.45. There’s still another two hours or so before he has to get his ass up for work, but he feels far too alert to go to sleep—owing to the high levels of caffeine he’s consumed, of course, so he figures he’ll just have to stay up until five or something. Then he’ll get dressed, shave, eat, go to work and figure out a way to somehow survive the day after his caffeine crash.

Levi leans back in his chair and cracks his neck. In his peripheral vision, he notices his laptop, the lid closed. He thinks of his other unfinished work—the one on his computer.

Levi really, really, _really_ shouldn’t—but he will. It’s far too tempting for him.

He opens up his computer and unpauses the video.

➢

“Long night?” Hanji asks, smirking at the haggard look on Levi’s face. She’s bumping into students left and right as she tries to catch up with him. It’s a little after Levi’s last class before lunch has ended, and the hallways are absolutely jammed with people. He can smell the misery emanating off the 

They finally jostle their way through the throngs of students, stepping out onto the campus lawns. Levi takes in the first whiff of fresh air since nine am, after which he’d had back-to-back classes. He’s completely drained of energy.

“Didn’t catch a wink of sleep,” Levi says, turning in the direction of the parking lot.

“What, were you up late working again? You know, a lack of sleep does stunt your growth. It’s scientifically proven. I don’t think you’ll need to get any shorter than you already are—ow!” Hanji yelps as Levi drives his elbow into her gut.

So Levi _might_ have stayed up until five in the morning watching all of _Dear Maria_ ’s YouTube videos.

He hadn’t even realised this fact until towards the end of some vlog Eren filmed last week—something about pranking Jean before a performance—where he was about to click on the next video to watch, only to realise that _there was no next video_.

Of course, he’s never going to admit the cause of his lethargy to Hanji. She’d make his life absolute hell if she thought that he had even the slightest interest in Eren. Once, he’d mentioned casually that he thought her lab assistant was cute, and she’d spent the next five weeks trying to set the two up. Her plan had backfired horribly—the lab assistant quit after the fifth week.

“I haven’t got a class until three. Lunch?” Levi enquires. Hanji nods and slides into the front seat, yelling, “I call shotgun!”

“You’re the only other person getting into this car, and I’m the one who’s driving, dumbass,” Levi points out.

“Eh, it’s fun saying it,” Hanji shrugs. “So, where to?”

“Oh, none of that fucking pop crap,” Levi says, just as Hanji fiddles with the controls, changing the radio station.

Hanji pouts. “Levi, you can’t say no to Beyoncé. Nobody says no to Beyoncé.”

“I can do whatever the fuck I want. Also, we’re going to that Mexican place outside campus.”

Hanji is still arguing about Beyonce—or perhaps entertaining him with the recent updates on her project—when he parks the car on a corner of a crowded street. He wouldn’t know. He blocked her out about a block or two ago.

They stroll down the pavement together. Levi stops short in front of the glass doors of the restaurant when he spots the very familiar face sitting inside.

“Levi? Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Um,” is the only intelligent answer Levi can give.

Hanji rolls her eyes. She pushes past Levi and into the restaurant. He hears her happy shout as he slinks into the restaurant behind him.

Sitting at a booth in the back corner of the restaurant is Eren and a short boy with a blond bob. They turn around and get to their feet as Hanji approaches them, a wide smile on her face.

“Oh, hey Armin! And Eren! Armin, do you remember the friend I was talking to you about? This is Levi Ackerman. He teaches Economics.” Hanji pats Levi on the shoulder fondly and grins at the blond boy who’s standing falteringly in front of him.

“Levi, this is my teaching assistant, Armin Arlert. And that’s Eren Jaeger, but you already know,” Hanji says, waving her hand at them. “Shall we join you for lunch?”

Levi grumbles something about Hanji imposing on them, but Armin—that was his name, right?—beams at Hanji and pats the seat next to him. Hanji takes the seat next to Armin, so Levi has no choice but to sit next to Eren. He hesitantly takes a step forward and sits down on the chair. Eren clears his throat. Levi looks over at him. Eren smiles. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“So…. _you’re_ Levi?” Armin asks.

Levi notices the subtle tone in his voice. He narrows his eyes at Armin. “Yeah. What about it.”

“Ah, nothing. Just—” Armin’s gaze flickers between Eren and Levi. “I—Um, Hanji talks about you a lot, is all.” Levi doesn’t miss the knowing look passed between Eren and Armin.

“Oh, yeah? Does she force you to let her conduct experiments on you, too?” Levi asks Armin, who laughs, a little nervously. 

“…something like that.”

The waitress arrives to take their order, and Levi barely has time to skim the menu—doesn’t matter, anyways, he orders the exact same thing every time. “Fish tacos,” he tells the waitress.

Once she’s gone from their table, Eren leans forward to ask Hanji if she’s free this weekend.

Hanji frowns at him. “Why?”

“It’s just that—the vacuum cleaner at our place broke down, and the rest have been bugging me about it since I was the one who, uh, broke it,” Eren says, scratching at his head sheepishly. “The thing is I don’t have a car, so I can’t exactly bring it home with me. Armin and Reiner’re the only ones I know with a car, but—”

“Sorry, Eren,” Armin says, shaking his head. “I’ve got to start work on my lab report this weekend.”

Eren looks helplessly over at Hanji, but she offers him a small smile and a shrug. “Not free, either. There’re some foreign exchange students coming over this week and the boss wants me to show them around.”

Then, for some unknown, inexplicable reason, Eren’s eyes drift over to Levi. He looks at him questioningly.

“ _Me_?” Levi says in disbelief. _I hardly even know you_ , he wants to say, but Eren just nods at him, offering him a grin.

“Hey, it could be fun. Besides, you’ve got nothing to do during your Saturdays, have you?”

“How would you know that?” Levi argues, but he’s currently envisioning his plans for Saturday, and they involve a whole lot of Netflix, staying in bed, or copious amounts of paper grading.

“Probably involves work,” Eren says. “Come _on_ , Levi. Just go out with me.”

Levi does a double take on the questionable choice of wording. He is suddenly very aware that both Hanji and Armin are watching their interaction very intently. Hanji is on the cusp of breaking out into laughter, and Armin’s smirk isn’t as subtle as he thinks it is. Levi scowls at the both of them.

The silence is broken by the arrival of their food. His stomach growls as he catches a whiff of the food—wow, Levi is famished.

“Levi’s, uh, a bit of a clean freak, but even that’s an understatement,” Hanji says. “He probably knows way too much about cleaning products and vacuum cleaners than he ought to. Levi, you’ll go with him, wont you?” She barely suppresses another smirk and tucks into her food.

Fucking Hanji. He should really act on his empty threats to smack her one day.

But, it’s true. He does have…a wildly inappropriate amount of information about cleaning products and vacuum cleaners. Hanji and Erwin say he’s obsessed, but to him—well, it’s an important life skill, isn’t it? Keeping your home clean—messy homes are fucking disgusting. He doesn’t understand how some people can live in states of utter filth.

He looks over at Eren. The man is still watching him from the corner of his eye as he digs into his quesadillas.

Levi swallows. “Fine, I’ll go with you.” Eren’s face lights up immediately and he shoots a grateful smile towards Levi.

“What was that?” Hanji asks. Levi glares at her.

“I said fucking yes, alright? Jesus Christ, woman.” He rolls his eyes and stabs his taco with more force than necessary.

“Good. You need to get out more,” she says, dabbing at her mouth.

“What time?” Levi says, turning away from Hanji in a bid to ignore her. “I could pick you up, if you want. I know a few good electronic stores in the city.”

“Sounds good. Nine?” Eren asks. “So I’ll just text you my address?”

“Yeah.”

Eren is beaming at him. “Great, it’s a date, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is it just me or do the characters in this fic say "eh" a lot. ARE THEY SECRETLY CANADIANS
> 
> date chapter will be next!
> 
> special thanks to corpsentry on Tumblr for suggesting that Levi help Eren pick out a vacuum cleaner!

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for saying this again, but comments and kudos would be greatly appreciated!


End file.
